Needing to debrief #MTBoS30 - 26

Today was our last class day.
We still have 4 exam days.

Teachers finalize the checkout procedure a week from tomorrow.

This is my last year to teach.
I've been dismantling my room, and giving away the parts and pieces.

JM diligently removed each staple from the many posters on the walls.

I offered students the opportunity to take any of the mini-poster quoteables and then I was surprised when they sorted through them, read every one of them, and claimed a few for themselves!


I posted pictures of supplies, stacking trays, a hanging file folder organizer, boxes for holding class sets of folders, posters and more in email to the math department.


By the end of the day most of my school supplies had new homes.


Tomorrow I'll check in most of my technology ... reserving my laptop and calculators until the last day.

While students worked in groups to review for their exam, helped me dismantle my room, I conversed with a teacher new to our school.  She had questions, reflecting on the ending of her first year, and asking for ideas about ways to make the next year begin more smoothly.

So as the chaos in my room calmed down, I spent an hour or two putting together a planning document for her.  I emphasized how I use the MTBoS search engine before a unit to learn how others address the upcoming topic.  I linked to a few favorite blog posts to show her specific places to look for good ideas for her Algebra 1 class.  I also put together a few sample activities that she could use in her first weeks.  I put all of this in a Google Folder and shared it with her.

It's my last year ... but I am not done.  I thoroughly enjoy planning with others ... helping them find resources.

So as my room is being dismantled and my supplies finding new homes, I'm looking for ways to continue sharing resources!

Retirement is looking so very amazing ... but "school" runs in my veins!

"Gets my Goat!" #MTBoS30 - 21

I saw this statement in my Twitter feed this morning.  The statement makes me angry.

The implication is that teachers should continue working after students have been dismissed.

But it doesn't account for so many possibilities.

• The "early-birds," who do their best work in the early morning hours, who have put in an additional 1 or 2 hours in the school day before students arrived.
• The teachers who have family, with responsibilities right after school, families whose time with teacher mom or dad is cut short by so many school responsibilities.
• The teachers who prefer to work in their own home office, in their favorite chair, with their own equipment because that's where their creativity sparks!  Not to mention they can multitask - taking care of family responsibilities.

But I think what really bothers me is that it defines a positive culture implying that teachers will want to work all hours ... as if having a life outside of school is not valuable, not important - or not our right?  

Let's turn that around ... why not give teachers appropriate time, space, tools, and equipment to plan well; pay them for that time.  Build it into their contracted day.  Watch shoulders lift, eyes sparkle, smiles broaden when teachers don't feel "put upon," when their personal time is respected, when they are given the opportunity to create balanced lives! 

... then we can talk about a "positive culture!"

In a next post, I'll explore strategies for balancing life ... taking care of oneself ... 

Survey Results #MTBoS30 - 20

Students have responded to my "end of year" survey.  I am reviewing their responses. 

I borrowed Julie's idea for a word cloud ... one word description of our class ... 

Students identified @Desmos as a preferred tech tool!  

Partner work was a preferred instructional strategy!

Statistics I found interesting ... 

61% said their confidence in their math skills improved.

56% said their concentration, work effort in class improved.

93% said their calculator skills improved; 62% said their calculator skills improved exponentially!

65% said their understanding of the "why" of concepts improved.

80% said their algebraic arithmetic skills improved.

The statistic that bothers me the most ...
17% said their confidence in their math skills declined this year. 22% said their confidence level stayed the same. One of my goals in my instruction is to help students believe in themselves, develop confidence in their problem solving skills, and not feel dependent on a teacher for each step. Obviously this is an area that I could strengthen.

I asked students "What was the most difficult thing for you to learn this year?" to identify the more difficult units based on students' thoughts. Those are the units that I want to review carefully this summer.  How might I rework the lesson structure, the learning activities, the practice to make the content more clear for students?  The units that students identified were the rationals and logs.

Last ... the statistic that feels the most personal is that only 50% rated the lessons interesting (4's and 5's on the scale).  You know that feeling when you have poured your heart and soul into something ... well ... guess I hoped for a little better than half! 

What do you do with end of the year data?  How do you use it?  What question do you find to be the most beneficial to you?

They created their own Quizizz!

We are wrapping up our unit on Rational Functions.

First we studied their graphs!
We learned about asymptotes (ditches) and removable discontinuities (holes).
Students able to analyze the key attributes of rational functions.

Then we jumped into the simplifying and solving.
We learned how to find common denominators.
We learned how to apply rational functions to a variety of word problems involving rate ... travel rate, distance rate, cost per person, mixture rate.

Instead of my creating a game for students to review, I asked students to create their own Quizizz game.  They created accounts, developed 10 problems, determined thoughtful multiple choice answers, and uploaded those.

They came to class armed with their Quizizz links!  I grouped desks together, and invite them to share their games.  They played for 40 - 50 minutes.  They swapped codes, advertised their codes on the board.  The conversations were lively.  They checked each other's work; complained when they found errors; got excited when they scored well on games.

After playing I asked students about their confidence level on the math skills.  I also asked them if they enjoyed creating their own games.

Their test is Tuesday.  I'm concerned about their confidence levels.  I've provided review documents, videos, and will provide a study prep session before school.  I realize that the data showing is just a few students - but the average is only about 3 out of 5.

Students reported not enjoying putting the Quizizz test together.  They said it was a lot of work.  It's the last week of the marking period and students were feeling the pressure from many courses.  Timing wasn't great.  If I ask students to create a game again, we will definitely work in teams on the assignment.  We might also develop a problem or two after each lesson so students aren't having to create a game from scratch at the end of a unit.

As I work Tuesday's test this weekend, I know we have prepared well.  In my mind this is the more difficult of the units we study; the more abstract; the more challenging.  

Somehow I want to help students with their confidence levels.  How do you do that in your classroom?

@MTBoS12days ... Goals for the New Year

New Year Goals

1) Walk more!  I used my FitBit well the first 6 months but when the temp outside turned hot, I put it away.  I'm charging it up ... talking to a colleague this week about being my walking partner.  I joined #FitBoS 2016 Challenge.

2) Read more!  I'm working on the 12 books that Mrs. Darcy put in her challenge for the variety!

3) Listen better!  I'm practicing talking less in class.  Now I want to listen better ... listen to individual students, listen to groups as they work.

4) Enjoy the ride!  I keep this quote in my classroom, "Life should not be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside in a cloud of smoke, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming "Wow! What a Ride!”

Week 7 Reflection

I missed a few reflective posts.  Not sure what happened, but somehow I contracted the worst sinus infection of my life!  It's been difficult to shake but now after more than 3 weeks, I'm feeling better.

So ... thinking back ... I'd like to highlight the good for sure, and at least mention the not so good :)

The good ...

1. We finished Unit 2 on systems of equations with excellent scores.  Class averages are right at 88 ... I'm quite pleased!  The focus this year shifted from previous years.  In previous years we worked primarily on 2-variable systems.  This year, we worked primarily on 3-variable systems, quadratic-linear systems, and systems of inequalities.  
2. Daily quizzing is becoming routine.
3. Homework assignments are short (less than 15 problems) and review all lessons in the unit.  So far the assignments are not spiraling past units.  
4. In Unit 2 we used laptops, iPads, and calculators - emphasizing choosing the best tool for the activity at hand.  
5. I personally felt more comfortable with Unit 2 lessons - the pacing, timing, activities seemed to flow better.

Questions ... 

1. It felt a little uncomfortable to do so much work with quadratic linear systems in Unit 2 when we haven't taught quadratics yet so we focused on using the TI 84 graphs and the quadratic formula.  This is a curriculum alignment concern I shared with our district team.
2. A few students have asked to drop my class because in their words, "I am not a computer person."  We use technology in our class, it's a 1:1 environment with laptops with the addition of an iPad cart.  The district has a technology focus, and one of our school goals is to increase the use of technology for formative and summative purposes.  So I get angry when students are allowed to change classes just because they want a classroom that has less access to technology (and yes technology is not distributed equally throughout the school).  I am also sad, because somehow I failed those students.  I was unsuccessful in helping them see the value in the tech-based exercises.  On the other hand, I have more students than my colleagues, so reducing my class load by a few students can be viewed as a positive change.  That's just not satisfying though.  

Going forward ... 

1. I'm working on a goal for students to self-monitor their progress in understanding course content.  I've tried a couple of small things but with Unit 3, I'm putting a spreadsheet in place for students to track their understanding.
2. I'm organizing Unit 3 a little differently - hopefully in a way that will simplify accessing lesson links.  I'm also being more intentional in the way students will take notes.  I've been allowing them some choices in note taking and with this Unit, I'm going to try specifying a least part of the note taking process.

Week 4 Reflections

Still not in my groove but working towards it.

Good things happening:

1. Students from pre-cal that had me last year are stopping by my room thanking me for preparing them for the work in that course.  One young lady in particular shared how much it has helped her and that she did well on her first test.  Another young lady is stopping in often for a hug, a laugh, and to encourage me.  I am blessed beyond measure.
2. Students in one class in particular were laughing with me and thanking me for being a teacher that would laugh with them.  
3. I found my go-to lesson planning app for the iPad this week!  It's ClassKick and I highly recommend it.  It's similar to Nearpod but completely free.  It also supports differentiation in that students can go from slide to slide without waiting for the teacher to process the slides.  The app captures all of the students' work.  I can zoom in on individual students' work, and give feedback, even stickers ... which my high school students LOVED.  While working students can raise an electronic hand to ask for help.  It's a top notch app!
4. First test grades are in.  While the class averages aren't where I want them to be ... in the 70's ... I am pleased with students' first efforts.  We have a long way to go, not there YET, but we are on our way!  (I had a student use the not YET phrase this week - high fived that kid!)
5. I am learning to use Google Forms more efficiently.  This week I used Flubaroo to grade the multiple choice portion of their test and then emailed students their results.  Oh my - love that tool.  Now I want to use it to give feedback or to respond to data I collect!

Areas to strengthen:

• I collected student reflections on Unit 1 via Google Forms.  Some students are not enjoying the style of teaching.  They want me to give notes first, explain the steps, and then give them practice problems.  Instead I start with questions, to activate prior knowledge, encourage them to use skills they have to get started with a problem situation, and then I pull them together for specific instruction. I'm thinking about how to continue using Socratic style questioning and yet support students' need for direct instruction.  I want to balance them better.
• With the use of the iPad and less emphasis on paper activities, some students feel like they are leaving class without the notes they need to finish their homework.  I want students to use the tools that they need most ... some like taking snapshots of our work in class and uploading it to their Google Drive for notes; others want to create a notebook ... which I support fully.  I'm not dictating one way or the other and that is new to students.  I also post "teacher notes" online daily for students to support my students with learning concerns and of course all students can access them.  I want to do a better job in helping students to make wise choices for their own study needs.

We've started our systems unit.  I used a revised version of Kyle Pearce's Detention Buy-Out to start the unit.  Here is a copy of our video and handout.  We have new textbooks this year - actually a "work-text" by Carnegie.  I don't love it yet, but I'm using it more in this unit to see how students like it.  So some of our work will be class discussion, partner work around questions in the book.  It's a learn by doing style book ... curious if anyone else uses it.  We are required to teach Gaussian Elimination this year ... and that's what we are tackling tomorrow.  Hope it goes well.

Week 3 Reflections

I felt disappointed this past week.  It's not my students - they are awesome.  It's not our work together exactly.  I think it is that I am not in my groove yet.  I'm still making adjustments for how much we can get done in class.  I miss opportunities for reflection.  And I know I rush students at times.  It will get better!

We had errors this past week to discuss.  The errors were in solving absolute value equations.  Too many students were confused about how to isolate the bars, how to set up two equations, how to check their work.  I'm thinking back over that lesson and how I can improve the work we did.  Students and I have been discussing the need to show their thinking so that we can discover areas needing correction.

The best highlight this week was our review day on Friday.  Students loved the Desmos Polygraph game.  Students said, This is cool!  They also like the Kahoot game.  One student asked if we could review for every test like class that day.

Students created short Tellagami videos on review problems.  It was rushed but fun!

We learned this week how to take notes with our iPad by snapping pictures of our work and uploading the pictures to Google Drive.  We also learned how to create the short videos.  I also learned a little about iMovie that I will get to share with students soon.

I've begun planning our first lessons on systems.  Our curriculum has been adjusted this year; there is more emphasis on solving 3-variable systems, solving using Gaussian elimination, solving with matrices.  We will spend less time developing the three ways to solve 2-variable systems - in fact we will simply review those three methods in one class. There is a heavy emphasis on solving within context.

We take our first unit test this week.  I feel like the test is as much for me as it is for my students!

Week 2 Reflections

Second week reflections ...

1. I started most classes with high fives.  When I missed some high fives, some students asked for them. 
2. Random assignment to groups is going well with playing cards. I have a deck of cards for each class.  I stand at the door ... high fives, pick a group ... instructions are projected!
3. Interleaving, lagging homework is going well also.  Each homework assignment has been between 12 and 15 problems, with review problems from algebra 1, previous lessons and then current lessons.
4. This past week we started quizzing.  I used Google Forms for the immediate feedback and the stats on individual questions.  I also shared links with students where they could quiz themselves online.
5. Our work with the iPads is getting better daily.  Most students are able to resolve their own log-in issues.  We are logged in quicker, using fewer precious learning moments.  We used Nearpod mostly this week ... I like it but it looks like I might have to pay for it to use the features I think we need.  That bothers me some so I hope to load Classkick on the iPads this week and give it a try.  I'm using the apps that allow students to write out their thoughts - draw, graph, explain.
6. I was consistent this week in asking students what they noticed.  In working on transformations, we started with sliders in Desmos.  Students matched graphs, and wrote what they noticed.  We developed our notes from their noticings.  In solving absolute value equations we started with completed examples and asking students what they noticed.  From their noticings we built steps for solving.  

Areas to improve ... 

• We are rushing too much ... need to slow down a bit.
• We haven't played Kahoot yet ... there hasn't been time for any "fun".
• I know some names - not enough!
• Many students are with me, making good progress; I'm missing a few students. I need to make sure everyone is succeeding.

I spent much of the summer thinking about this first unit and how it might be designed.  Now I need to focus on the next unit ... lickety split! I don't have the luxury of time to ponder, create, and revise!

The next unit is on systems - a favorite unit.  I am enlisting students to help me video our opening scenario - a modification of a 3-act task by Pearce.  As soon as we have it put together, I'll share.  Beyond that start I have no plans yet.  Hopefully there will be time tomorrow to put together at least the outline of content for each day!

Our Open House is Tuesday night!  I look forward to meeting students' parents.  I have a video for the parents - it's too serious, but definitely informative.

#70 Days Fun times!

I had the opportunity to write a guest post on a friend's blog.  She is an amazing grade 2 teacher!  And she specifically has a passion for math.  Check out my post and her work at Grade 2 Hullabaloo!

Nine, and reflecting

We have nine days left.
I enjoy my students, privileged to get to work with them, but I'm glad summer is coming.

Summer "break" is a break from teaching.  It's my free time .... vacationing, down time, family time, home projects, personal renewal, the "r and r" time.

It's also time for personal learning.  Breaking down the new teaching standards expected for the coming year; learning new technology to engage students in critical thinking; refilling my own "bucket" - the motivation to do well, be well.

Already the summer reading is gathering on my shelf.

• Teaching Numeracy: 9 Critical Habits to Ignite Mathematical Thinking
• What's Math Got to Do with It?: How Teachers and Parents Can Transform Mathematics Learning and Inspire Success
• The 5-Minute Teacher: How do I maximize time for learning in my classroom?
• Ditch That Textbook: Free Your Teaching and Revolutionize Your Classroom

Before the summer is over I'm certain to have added 1, 2, 3 more titles to my professional reading.  There are a couple of educational technology blogs I'll be devouring as well.  And hopefully much Twitter chatting as I connect with teachers online.  I still have so much to learn!

I'm feeling drained ... 

We have nine days left.

Connected Learning #youredustory

Random thoughts ... connected learning ...

Our tech coach sent out an email about an opportunity to win a free pass to SXSWEDU ... I ignored it the first day because my brain was tired.  And I couldn't think of connections.  BUT I wanted to go to that conference ... so I petitioned my principal for the money.  She said they might be able to find it ... and suggested I check with IT for funding.  Yep, the tech coach came back at me ... friendly, encouraging, always my cheerleader ... apply for the free pass!  I bet you'll get it.  Here are some things I know you are doing!  So I put together this slide show representing some of the tech-y stuff in Room 626.  I now have a free pass ... which is awesome ... but how does that relate to connected learning???

Well ... connected learning "focuses on the experience of the learner. It seeks to uncover the kinds of social relationships, experiences, and access to knowledge and communities that we all need to have in order to thrive in an era where these forms of information and social connection are very abundant."

In the example I led with, I was the learner!  My tech coach focused her attention on my experiences; she helped me uncover what I needed to know, to do, to experience in order to be successful!  Our work together is relational, just-in-time support, and focused on growth of the individual.

Connected learning isn't so much about the technology as it is about building relationships, between people, between people and curriculum, between diverse curriculum topics, between school and the world outside.

Yes, I'm connected ... Facebook, Twitter, Instagram .. and yes, I use technology in my classroom.  But connected learning is more than the hardware, applications ... it's about the learner!  What will cause these challenging, abstract math concepts to make sense?  How can I connect abstract math with my students' world?  And so we use technology but also M'nM's, wikki stix, dice, marbles, whiteboards and more!

Connected learning is about transformative experiences ... abstract math, students, and the world around us!

Connectedlearning.tv,. 'Frequently Asked Questions | Connected Learning'. N.p., 2015. Web. 14 Feb. 2015.

Learning ... in 100 words or less #youredustory

Learning is ... discovery ... exploration ... the a-ha moment

Learning is using what I know as structure for absorbing new information, making connections

Learning is soaking up something new, massaging that idea, concept, or skill, and making it my own

Learning is seeing, listening, doing, practicing, making mistakes, correcting mistakes, and practicing some more

Learning is talking it out, sharing, examining, debating, justifying, re-imagining

Learning is process, learning is life! 

My Week in Review (Jan 19 - 23)

The good, bad, and ugly ... 

The good ... 

• Monday's holiday was awesome!  I love having the extra time to putter about the house!
• Meeting up with @druinok was a definite highlight of the week.  We've been online colleagues for a while but had never met.  She and her husband were traveling south through my stomping grounds.  We met for dinner and a chat!  Who knew we would have so much fun!  She is delightful and so passionate about her work!
• My sub plans for  Friday worked out well.  I used a Google Presentation with examples and problems embedded and a Google Form for collecting responses.  That model has worked well for me before ... worked again!

The bad ... 

My husband's mother passed away on Thursday about noon.  She was dear to us.  No horror stories about in-laws at our house.  We loved each other's parents from the start.  We flew out early Friday morning to spend time with my husband's family.  The visit has been good ... sad to lose Mother ... sad to visit with family we don't see often on these terms ... but also a sweet time of reunion.

The ugly ... 

Well - I liked the lesson for Tuesday ... and the sub plans were good for Friday ... but Wednesday/Thursday's plans were boring.  They were just plain ugly.  Not enough student to student interaction, not enough practice, not enough engagement ... too much teacher talk.  That's a lesson to improve next year for sure!

Planning ... it's multidimensional! #youredustory

What is one significant practice in teaching?

Planning!

By planning I don't mean just what we write in the boxes in a teacher's ledger book. Planning is multidimensional.

It's the big picture ... how that huge curriculum fits across 9 or 10 months.

It's the ongoing professional development -
      ... deepening understanding of content
               ... exploring new instructional strategies
                       ... creating meaningful formative assessments -

It's collaboration with colleagues ... face to face and online PLN - discussions that challenge our thinking.

It's a sequencing puzzle ... how to hook students, what to teach first, next, how to wrap it all up.

It's about the pushmi-pullyu ... how fast, deep, detailed ... how much direct instruction ... how much discovery ... how much practice!

It's up, down, in, out ... movement to engage students' interest.

It's exploring the what ifs ... what if students struggle?  what if they catch on quickly?  what if the activity falls flat? what if ...

It's knowing in advance how you'll know they know what you want them to know!

Planning ... it takes time ... and more time!

My week in review (Jan 12 - 16)

Thinking out loud about the past week ... looking forward to the week ahead ... loving this extra day off!

Last week we rushed through one class on factoring.  Of course we had spent 2 full classes last semester on factoring quadratics.  This week the focus was on polynomials of higher degree - especially the sum and difference of cubes and polynomials that can be factored by grouping.  Our lesson was very direct, I do, you do, then you practice some more.  I used the whiteboards at first to make sure we were getting the basic ideas.

Students took their test on polynomials.  It was one of our more basic tests, focused on skills. Polynomials is an introductory unit in our curriculum, laying down some groundwork for skills to build on in pre-calculus.

We began our unit on the square root function on Friday.  Students are already good friends with the parameters a, h, and k.  They also know how to use multiple representations, a graph, a table, and an equation.  So there was no direct instruction on Friday.  Instead students worked in teams to graph square root functions when given an equation, to build tables for the function, and to find the equation when given a table or a graph.  They noted the domain and ranges of the functions and practiced writing in set and interval notation.  Last, they applied this work on attributes to one application problem. Two of the handouts they used are here and here.  While students were working in groups, I was free to listen in on their conversations, check their work as teams, and demonstrate specific skills as needed.  It was a very satisfying day!

After our Monday holiday we will spend a little time on the concept of inverses before continuing on with square root equations - applications.

In our department meeting this past week I shared our student blogs.  I'm so very pleased with the students' efforts this year in blogging.  The are doing remarkable work!  If you are curious about their blogs check out this link.  And if you want to swap ideas for class blogs, let me know!

On the home front, I've started reading Orphan Train.  I'm also engrossed in the TV series, Gilmore Girls ... love the fast conversation and small town interactions.  This weekend the weather is beautiful in Austin ... hitting the hiking trails!  I'm sure there should be some lesson planning fitting in there somewhere ... but for now ... I'm on holiday!

making the world a better place #youredustory

I've grown up in a bubble ...

• my parents loved each other ... and their three girls
• my home growing up was happy ... balanced with reading, games, music, church, fellowship
• my husband of 40 years still loves me
• my sons and their wives are precious
• my grandsons are the BEST!

So ... when I think about making the world a better place I think first of my bubble ... it's already pretty grand ...

And when the hard realities of life outside my bubble hit me, I wonder ... how can I make a difference there?

I teach to make a difference outside of my bubble ... I teach math to teens.  Most of my teens are into math so that makes it fun to introduce them to new concepts.

I asked two young ladies today ... have you looked ahead at the colleges you want to attend and the programs you want to study ... what math will be required?  Their eyes lit up ... we could blog about that!  Oh yea ... love our math blogs!  Can't wait to see what they find about future math options.

Another student eagerly shared with me his fascination with roller coasters.  We've been studying polynomials and he was so excited to make the connection between the path of the roller coaster and the graphs we have examined.

It's the little interactions ... the conversations on the side ... sharing bits and pieces of our journey ... that make our world a better place.

I'm in high school now, but for a while I sojourned as an elementary principal. Each year I shared my favorite story, Miss Rumphius. Alice’s Grandfather tells her that before she grows old she must do three things: Go to faraway places, live by the sea, and do something to make the world more beautiful.  I think I'll share this story with my teens ... it will make a good "new year's" focus ... to make our world a better place!

"Present" ... my word ... #youredustory

"Present"
Living in the "present"
Enjoying the moment ...

So much of what we do as teachers revolves around planning for the future, examining the "what ifs" if students don't get the lesson, working backwards from a future goal ... all significant, important, good.

And yet, if we aren't careful we can lose sight of the present.  Confession ... sometimes I have found it difficult to pay attention to students, their stories, jokes, even their questions ... because my mind is churning up the future ... what I have to do next.  Not good!

So ... my goal is to live in the present as much as possible this semester!

Quotes I'm pondering ... !

“Tomorrow is tomorrow.
Future cares have future cures,
And we must mind today.” 
― Sophocles, Antigone

“What day is it?"
It's today," squeaked Piglet.
My favorite day," said Pooh.” 
― A.A. Milne

“You must live in the present, launch yourself on every wave, find your eternity in each moment. Fools stand on their island of opportunities and look toward another land. There is no other land; there is no other life but this.” 
― Henry David Thoreau

Weekly Summary, continued

I'm not sure what week to call this ... and I'm taking a break from blogging!
But summarizing the week has value ...

Lessons - just 2 of them in four days because we have A/B schedules

1. Graphing polynomials are not in our standards but I'm glad we started with graphing.  We introduced polynomials by exploring the end behavior and also the behavior at the zeros.   We worked from factored polynomials.  Linear factors cross the x-axis, squared factors bounce on the axis, and cubed factors wiggle across the axis.  We created human graphs ... student volunteers represented factors of a polynomial.  The held hands showing the behavior of the graphs.  Students laughed, clapped, and graphed well!
2. We had one of those "WOW" moments when I asked students to divide 693 by 21 and then I divided 6x^2 + 9x + 3 by 2x + 1.  We laughed as we thought about the day in fourth grade when they learned long division and how that day foreshadowed the lesson we had this week.  I told them their fourth grade teacher just left out the variables so as to leave the fun for us this week.  Students liked the connection to long division ... but when I introduced synthetic division they were so sold!  Ma'am, why would anyone use long division if synthetic division works?

Coming up ... factoring polynomials.  The lesson is not cute or fun.  We'll be studying patterns, using whiteboards, I do, you do!  If all goes well I found a jeopardy game online to play ... we'll see.

I have the best students!  They returned to school ready to work, listening, taking notes, participating, and demonstrating good work!

And that's all we do with polynomials.  It's a short unit in the scheme of things.  There is so much we don't do.  But that's OK!

We will test on Wednesday/Thursday!

In the meanwhile, I've been reading a few books ... enjoying rest and relaxation!

• What Happens at Christmas by Victoria Alexander
• I Still Dream of You by Fannie Flagg
• When Crickets Cry by Charles Martin
• A Million Little Ways: Uncover the Art You Were Made to Live by Emily Freeman
• Unshaken: Ruth by Francine Rivers

#MTBoSChallenge Weekly Summary 17

I'm quite behind in blogging ... but I don't want to miss out on this week's summary!

3 Holiday Events so far

• Mozarts Coffee Roasters is a lovely coffee and dessert shop on the Colorado River.  In December they organize a beautiful light show ... about 15 - 20 minutes of amazing lights blinking on and off to a variety of holiday music.  Our sons, their wives, the grandsons, and my dad went this past Monday night!  It was great fun!
• A Cappella Texas Men's Chorus presented an awesome Christmas concert Saturday.  I loved their choice of music and the enthusiasm in which they presented the program.  In addition to the chorus, several barbershop quartets sang as well.  We especially enjoyed Vocal Spectrum and The Academy.
• We capped Saturday with the Holiday Stroll presented by KUT and KUTX.  Hundreds of folks in Austin gathered in front of the Capitol building to sing Christmas carols and songs ...and to light the city tree.

2 Appetizers I want to make

The book club I joined recently is meeting Tuesday evening.  We read A RedBird Christmas by Fannie Flagg.  So our meeting is at our leader's house ... a Christmas theme.  I'm thinking of taking one of these two treats ... 

• Cheese Stuffed Dates with Proscuitto
• Chocolate Cream Cheese Crescent Cookies

1 Age Old Problem ... Still!

I've been talking with students during our current unit on quadratics about the value of doing their own homework. Homework grades are high and I use that as a litmus test for what I need to review in class - so all is well! Hmmmm ... then I ask students to do similar work in class, and some students who have 100s on that homework can't do the work.  I'm trying to help students see that completing their homework, even struggling through it, helps them gain skills, and helps them know what questions they need to be asking.  I wish our team had not decided to grade homework ...